Mimicry of modeled behaviors by bottlenose dolphins - Mark J. Xitco
University of Hawaii, Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lboratory, 1129 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI, USA, 96814 -
- (C) 1988 University of Hawaii
This paper reports on a series of experiments investigating the capacity of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, for learning motor behaviors through mimicry. The goals of the present investigation were two-fold; 1) to demonstrate and characterize the dolphin’s capacity for true motor mimicry, and 2) to harness this capacity as an alternative training technique and investigative tool for examining dolphin behavior.
The investigation was carried out in two major phases, each comprised of two experiments. Experiment 1 demonstrated the ability of two naïve, juvenile dolphins to mimic a succession of novel behaviors demonstrated by human models, providing clear evidence of the dolphin’s capability for true motor mimicry. In Experiment 2, a methodology was successfully developed for placing the dolphins’ demonstrated capacity for mimicry under stimulus control. Experiment 3 examined the characteristics of the process of mimicry itself through an adaptation of the original paradigm. Rather than using human models, the adapted paradigm employed two older, more sophisticated dolphins who served as models to demonstrate behaviors for each other. The dolphins’ performance across a structured series of transfer behaviors suggested that the acquisition of behaviors through mimicry operates independently from reinforcement-based learning mechanisms.
In Experiment 3, a model of behavior similarity was developed, and used to interpret performance on mimicry trials as a manifestation of the dolphin’s underlying representational schema for behavior. Experiment 3 also provided evidence suggesting the transmission of situation-specific information between the dolphins, and the emission of behavior-specific vocalizations during the mimicry paradigm. Experiment 4 demonstrated the dolphin’s ability for mimicry following a delay interval. The model of behavior similarity was successfully employed again to interpret changes in the dolphins’ performance with increasing delays within the framework of the dolphin’s representational schema for behavior.
- Xitco, M. J., Jr. (1988) Mimicry of modeled behaviors by bottlenose dolphins. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
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